HUBERT DISCOVERS GOLD IN BCRA HANGTOWN MIDGET WIN

By Floyd Busby

PLACERVILLE, CA., APRIL 17: Michael Hubert III, making his dirt track Midget debut, discovered gold at the Placerville Speedway, just minutes away from the original discovery of gold that created the famed California Gold Rush of 1849 and created the settlement where the speedway now rests, then known as "Hangtown".

The hot Bay Cities Racing Association Midget rookie and 16-year-old third-generation driver stated the 30-lap feature on the outside of the sixth row under threatening rain clouds that cancelled most other Northern California racing venues. Immediately taking a liking to the high groove, the former karting and Legends driver romped the Judy Hubert Chevy-powered Eagle past the front starters to second, trailing Floyd Alvis at the end of the first lap. Still in high momentum, Hubert charged into turn-one to take the lead from the veteran Alvis, his senior by 53-years.

Fast qualifier Rob Russell, fresh from his new Midget track record, charged the Guerrini Stealth/Gaerte Ford from tenth-starting to sixth over the first-lap route, then knifed his way into third behind Alvis in the second round. Doug Lippincott held fourth aboard his Stealth/Chevy with Pete Davis' Beast/Esslinger in fifth. Ninth-starting Thomas Meseraull moved the Mertl Stealth/Esslinger into the sixth slot as the leading Hubert began increasing his advantage over the fast field.

Meseraull was on a tear, jumping to fifth, then fourth over the next two laps. On the eighth circuit Russell moved by Alvis for second, then Alvis, with an ailing engine, dropped behind Meseraull.

On the 12th lap, Russell's attempt to haul in the leading rookie took its toll with a spin in the fourth turn to bring out the
caution flag. At this point rookie Scott Pierovich retired with mechanical woes.

Hubert now led Meseraull with Alvis still hanging on in third. Greg Nelson held the fourth position in the Thurston
TCR/V4-banger over Greg Dennett's Beast/Wirth Chevy and Davis.

The second caution flag waved on the 15th lap when the engine in Rob Lindsey's Gambler/Esslinger failed and the driver brought the car to a slow halt just past the finish line.

The front pack remained the same until Alvis opted to pit on the 20th lap before his powerplant expired, putting Nelson in third.

During the late-stages of the race Hubert made his only noticeable miscue. Exiting turn-two he ran above the outer groove
toward Placerville's infamous uphill track exit, setting his car partly sideways and avoiding the intersection abutment by powering back down onto the racing surface, steering the sliding machine to the right and biting the track with the throttle to continue on his way. This allowed Meseraull to greatly reduce Hubert's advantage, but try as he did, he could not sustain a serious challenge for the lead.

During this stage of the race, Dennett outdueled Nelson for third as Russell was making his way back up through traffic after his restart in the rear.

Hubert took the win over Meseraull, Dennett, Nelson and Russell with Davis and Lippincott the only other cars on the leader's lap.

Russell's sizzling record-breaking qualification run dropped the Midget record to 11.876 on the quarter-mile clay oval.

John Sarale, battling engine problems all evening, held on to win the first inverted heat race over Washington-state's Lindsey and Bill Foland. Dennett came through for the second heat win over Lippincott and Russell.

NOTES: The Midgets shared the program with the BCRA Midget Lite division, as well as the SCRA 360 sprints in the all-wingless open wheel program. This marked the first time in the ten-year history of the Lite division that they ran without the wings and the prognosis was thumbs-up by most all of the drivers.

Steve Dickenson made the trip from Corvallis, Oregon. When he arrived he removed the hood of his Edmunds/Pontiac only to find that they had left the injectors on the work bench at home. Fortunately, Steve's brother Gary saved the day by removing the injectors from his idle car and arriving from Santa Rosa in time to install them on Steve's car.

Rookie Hubert holds a 14-point lead over Meseraull in the driver point standings. He placed third last year in the Legends
championship race in North Carolina.

Brian Gard, one of this season's highly regarded rookies, continued to have teething problems. His Midget experienced engine problems during qualifying at Placerville and he was unable to compete. The previous week he broke the engine and in the opening race he was bounced into the Stockton wall.

SUMMARY:
QUAL.: 1. Rob Russell, #63 Guerrini 11.876 (Record); 2. Thomas Meseraull, #9 Mertl 12.147; 3. Scott Pierovich (R), #35 12.264; 4. Cliff Servetti, #83 12.404; 5. Pete Davis, #00 12.486; 6. Michael Hubert III (R), #56 12.557; 7. Greg Nelson, #17 Thurston 12.741; 8. Doug Lippincott, #4L 12.762; 9. Greg Dennett, #47 12.798; 10. Floyd Alvis, #18 12.806; 11. Bill Foland, #0 O'Keefe 12.987; 12. Scott Key, #37 13.092; 13. Rick Haugh Jr., #51 13.141; 14. Rob Lindsey, #23 13.145; 15. Steve Dickenson, #99S 13.287; 16. John Sarale, #32 13.522; 17. Brian Gard, #27 16.455; 18. Cameron Beard, #1 N/T.

HEAT-1: Sarale, Lindsey, Foland, Dickenson, Haugh, Alvis, Key, (Gard & Beard N/S).
HEAT-2: Dennett, Lippincott, Russell, Nelson, Hubert, Meseraull, Pierovich, Servetti, Davis.

MAIN: 1. Michael Hubert III, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Greg Dennett, 4. Greg Nelson, 5. Rob Russell, 6. Pete Davis, 7. Doug Lippincott, 8. Bill Foland, 9. Cliff Servetti, 10. Steve Dickenson, 11. Floyd Alvis, 12. Rob Lindsey, 13. Scott Pierovich, 14. Scott Key, 15. John Sarale, 16. Rick Haugh Jr.